Saturday, January 16, 2010

Six arbritration cases left outstanding, that is, what with the contract agreements reached Friday with Chad Billingsley and Matt Kemp. That leaves Andre Ethier, James Loney, Jonathan Broxton, Hong-Chih Kuo, Russell Martin, and George Sherrill left, all six of whom filed their paperwork to commence the arbritration process:

The filings are procedural, reserving the players' right to have their salary determined by an arbitration panel if an agreement with the club is not reached. Players and the team exchange salary figures Tuesday and, should the case go to a hearing, the panel would select one number or the other, nothing in between. For that reason, the exchange of numbers generally frames the case and results in a settlement.

The Dodgers, in fact, are already discussing two-year deals with Broxton and Ethier. A two-year deal was discussed with Loney, but is less likely than for the other two. Broxton, Kuo and Loney are eligible for salary arbitration for the first time.

So Sherrill, Kuo, and Martin (who claimed he was interested in signing a long-term deal after the 2008 season--his second All-Star season in a row--but didn't sign a deal, and then saw his numbers fall off precipitously in 2009 (his .680 OPS was 100 points less than any of his three prior seasons) are not on the short list? Are we prioritizing these correctly, SoSG readers?